ven all4 major athletic festivals. Pausanias's description of Olympian architecture includes a list of themore famous victors' statues, and summaries of their inscriptions such as this one:"Polycles...likewise won a victory with a four-horse chariot, and his statue holds a ribbon in the right hand...as the inscription on him says, [he] also won the chariot-race at Pytho, the Isthmus and Nemea." (Pausanias 6.1.7)this exerpt came from p126 in the official Olympic souvenir program of the 1984 games in Los AnglesSo now we have the idea that the Olympics is the longest running event (to date), butas for the origins we have only what historians can tell us. There are many different storiesabout the beginning of the Olympics. Such as... "One myth says that the guardians of the infantgod Zeus held the first footrace, or that Zeus himself started the Games to celebrate hisvictory over his father Cronus for control of the world. Another tradition states that after theGreek hero Pelops won a chariot race against King Oenomaus to marry Oenomaus'sdaughter Hippodamia, he established the Games. Athletic games also were an important partof many religious festivals from early on in ancient Greek culture. In the Iliad, the famouswarrior Achilles holds games as part of the funeral services for his best friend Patroclus. Theevents in them include a chariot race, a footrace, a discus match, boxing and wrestling. ...Thefootrace was the sole event for the first 13 Olympiads. Over time, the Greeks added longerfootraces, and separate events. The pentathlon and wrestling events were the first new sportsto be added, in the 18th Olympiad." -The Twentieth Century International EncyclopediaOlympic p1821The Olympics were open to any free-born Greek in the world. There were separate men's and boy's divisions for the events. The Elean judges divided youths into theboy's or men's divisions based as much on physical size and strength as age. Women werenot allowed to co...
